Remembrance
by greedisland93
Summary: Marco's speech to the surviving members of the Whitebeard Pirates, recounting the history of the former Captain and the memorial of fallen comrades.


**This speech is the skipped part of the 'Marco the Phoenix' chapter in my other story**

**Enjoy**

"Thank you all for caring to join us here today, although I'm sure many of us wish we were gathering in celebration rather than in mourning for our lost nakamas. These past days, have been very tiring and difficult for all of us. We gather here in this solemn ceremony to mourn the brave men who went through the fire and all those who have been taken away from us,"

"To me, he was a great father, and I'm glad to have been serving him until the end."

"Having been in one of earliest his crews, we've endured a lot of exciting journeys and adventures. I remembered, meeting him in my homeland's little port in South Blue. Many of you would probably guess that I was a local street fighting champion or that he recruited me for my fighting prowess. Let me tell you something, before I met him, I was a complete and utter nobody. I was no Ace, I was no Jozu, I was not a hero in any way you look at me. Every time I had to fight for something, I always ran away, I never once thought I could take on anybody. Ironically though, that is exactly what made me who I am today. If it wasn't for that day, who knows where I'll be right now."

"It was a cloudy day, he was eating his meal down in the tavern, he had his pack on the other seat, and opportunist me, was stalking around the docks looking for some unguarded ships. I saw his bag lying there and I saw the opportunity, so I took it. You see, due to all the running, my foot has become my greatest asset, I could quite confidently outrun any adults any day. So, I was quite surprised when I looked back and found him still giving chase for his bag. We must have ran around the town, making scenes, calling each other names, for one hour when he said 'enough' and with a ninja-like technique, he caught up to me and easily regained his bag. I spent minutes apologizing to him, begging him to let me go, but he'd have none of it. He said, that I needed some punishment and seeing my stamina, he could use a spare deckhand. I tried to run away, again, he caught me by the back of my collar and carried me like a bag on his back. It was not until weeks later that I truly realized how precious the content was to him."

"Before that event, I just thought that pirates were just savages who loot and kill for their own pleasure, they killed my parents, they killed the only thing that I ever cared about and left me all alone in this cruel world to fend for myself. The thugs who constantly beat me up every day got more respect from me than Pirates. For what they have done to me and my parents, I thought, I could never forgive them, and I certainly believed I owed him nothing, he probably also stole the bag from some poor guy who was probably already dead by then. But that feeling began to change when the crews, there was only six of them by then, took me in with open hands. One guy taught me how to fish, one other guy was a prankster who often booby trap his own Captain, one girl taught me how to read and write. We partied almost every night and yes, we did raid some ships, but they were mostly other Pirate ships. These guys was nothing like those Pirates who killed and enslaved innocent people. I mean, if you take a look at these guys and what they're like real life you won't believe these guys are Pirates. My whole life up until that point was spent cowering in the darkest corner, thinking that I will never amount to anything, but that time, that night, I realized I've found my family again. At the center of them all, of course, was the Pops himself, he mostly kept to himself and for that I thought he was a bit odd. But not for long, as the crews told me his story, they made me promise not to tell it to anyone and that's why I never told you anything, but to perfectly illustrate the man who've went on to build the largest, most powerful Pirate crew in the whole seas, I must tell you his story, so listen carefully."

"Contrary to what you people might think, the old man wasn't a Pirate his whole life. Like all of us here, he had a history, and his history was one of deep sorrow. A long time ago, he was originally an educated family man, working as a young doctor at a kingdom in South Blue. He had a young wife and a young daughter back then. His wife passed away after seven years of marriage, from some sickness. Soon after, his daughter too contracted the same sickness. That was where he gave up everything to find the cure for her daughter's sickness, to the point of sailing the whole seas and becoming a Pirate.

"We accompanied him to his old home, a manor where the reputable Newgate family once lived, where his daughter lay in the only furnished room in the deserted manor. He's sold all his things, even his family's priceless heirloom, to pay for all the researches and expeditions. I felt really bad when, as it turned out, the bag that I was trying to steal earlier, contained the supposed cure to his daughter illness."

"She, for a brief period, became somewhat better, I couldn't think of a single word that could explain the look of happiness between the two as she could get out of her bed on her own, and even walked for a few steps and ate proper food, and not those IVs that the doctors have been giving her all that time she was lying sick in her bed. Every morning, he'd walk her to the park, taking her to a dinner, accompanying her to the playground and pushing her on a swing, anything that you'd expect a father and daughter to do together, they did it in that brief time of happiness. But, the 'cure' could only do so much as she began to relapse one day at a much quicker interval. The whole stock of medicine that should have been enough for a month, were almost fully consumed by the end of the week as the sickness' resistance improved to the point where the injection of the drug could only mean keeping her alive for the next hour, by this stage, she was already back in her bed and we in the sea, looking to obtain more of the medications. Later, the doctors the Pops employed found out that the drug wasn't quite the cure that we've always believed it to be. It was just an agent to delay the spread of the sickness by blocking supply of the proteins needed by the sickness to grow, which is good, unfortunately by doing so, it also stopped other cells in her body from getting the essential proteins to survive."

"Days gone by, and with no alternative treatment in sight, the Pops decided that barely-alive was better than not being alive at all. That was why the Pops continued to keep her on her 'medication.' The most hurting thing for him was to look his ailing daughter in her eyes and telling him everything was going to be alright, that the drug was working and it was going to cure her soon. But she was not a stupid kid in any way, she realized that as days went by she lost more and more of her energy to just live, then she began to be asleep more than she was awake. No more than a year after that, it's gotten so much worse that she could only stay awake for a few minutes after having been sleeping for one damned month."

"The condition deteriorated even further after that, the Pops never came out of her room on-board the ship, and we had to bring him food to the room every day. He said, he didn't want to miss even a second of her being awake, and we, as his nakamas, could only give him empty reassurance, we really wished we could do something about that, we really do. She awoke more than six months later, she knew something was wrong when she awoke to see his father, now sporting a beard, with some grey hair here and there when, what to her seemed like a second ago, he didn't even grow a stubble. She told him that she liked the new look, though she confessed, she would also like to see him with a moustache. Aside from that, she also noticed the perpetual sleepiness that seemed to haunt her now, it was always there lurking in the background, like a devil that tried to lure her away from this world, but then she said to her father, that she didn't even worry about the ceaseless pain and sleepiness now, no, she wasn't scared of those things, the one thing that she was afraid the most was seeing his father go on like this, waiting for that one minute of happiness that might never even come. She then went on to tell him that she felt so much better, and even said that the drug was working. She asked to be walked out, to feel and see the sun again. The Pops hesitated at first, and he would have kept arguing with her if he hadn't known how little time she's got left before going to slumber again, and also it was because he was dying to see that look of happiness on her face again. So, at last he relented, and after cursing her for exploiting his gullibility to which she just giggled, he walked her outside, with him carrying her IV, her lifeline, very gently on the other hand."

"It was really fortunate that the sun was still up that evening. In fact, we were outside talking about how weird the day's been, because it was supposed to be dark an hour ago, and yet the sun was only setting now. We, the crews were surprised to hear the creak of the door of what we already knew as her room's. We raced to the bridge side of the ship and found the father and daughter looking out at the brilliant sunset. Both looked really peaceful and happy, the Pops really earned his earned 'father-daughter time' and I could have sworn she looked just like an ordinary healthy lively teenager, just enjoying her life with her beloved father."

"The ship's joker then pointed out that the moon was also visible too, and I punched him on the stomach silently for lying at a time like this, but then I looked up and was surprised that for once he was telling the truth. We could also see the stars starting to light up the sky here and there. It was a really beautiful view. The Pops joked at how the sun and the moon didn't want to miss the chance of seeing her, for once tolerated each other and shone side by side."

We also congratulated her for being strong for her all of us, and she cheerfully gave us, dirty lowly Pirates, hugs and thanked us for taking care of her father, and confided in us, her wish that we could continue to watch after her father after she's gone. I told her that we wouldn't need to. We then continued to be in the background, afraid to piss off the Pops for stealing the little time he had with his daughter. One nakama whispered to me and told me how she might have really been cured now that she's been awake for more than ten minutes, and I certainly hope so. That was right until the moment where the sun were completely drowned by the horizon that she kissed his father. We would have never guessed that it was a goodbye kiss as he collapsed into his father's arms. We at first thought that she must have gone to sleep again, but as it turned out, it took all her energy to just be standing there with her father. And that was the point where we made an oath to ourselves, that we'd take care of Pops even if that means sacrificing our lives, because that was our promise to her. Even until their very end, the original crews stayed with him, no matter how dire and hopeless the situation was. They were truly the best of warriors out there."

"…Ace…our youngest brother, I could see why the Pops picked him, I could see a little bit of everyone in him. Sometimes, when he joked, when he pulled some sick pranks or when he was fighting, I couldn't help but be reminded of them. It was difficult for me to understand, that such a young man like him, could have left all of us this soon, when he was supposed to have a happy and wonderful life ahead of him, a young man with so much to offer. Perhaps this was why, the Pops tried to prevent him from going after Teach that fateful day. Unfortunately for him, perhaps, he made a mistake by choosing to adopt someone who's too much like us, because then, that means he'd have inherited the strong, unequalled sense of selflessness and brotherhood of the Whitebeard Pirates. This is also why he, so selflessly, sacrificed himself that day to save his brother, who I also prayed for his safety."

"Maybe to us, it seemed to be ridiculous for the Pops to keep on going, to continue to fight when he has sustained such grave injury and losses. But if you know him as long as I do, his life wasn't really about his own survival, it was about his family's and that was all that matter to him as a father and as a Captain. That's just the kind of man he was, he would have set any thoughts for his safety aside and gone to our aid, and that's exactly what he did that day. He did it for all of us."

"I'd also like to give everybody here, out there, and also those who are no longer with us, my deepest gratitude, for answering the call, for leaving your personal matter behind, for leaving the comfort of your faraway homes, to rush to your brothers' help. Young and old, all of you risked your lives for us, you forgot fear and you fought your foes as hard as you could, knowing the danger, buying time just for that little bit of chance. I admit, it is not in any way, an easy feat. I want to let you know that our prayers are with the entirety of the Whitebeard Pirates and its allies, the proud sons and daughters of ours, their memories will live on in our hearts. And for your outstanding service, we'll forever be in your debt."

"The wounded, the broken, those who lost their nakamas and their homes. They're going to need your help. In the days that are to come, this love and support will be more important than ever, because there will be moments of doubt and pain and the temptation to wonder how we will ever fully recover. And to those who have lost such remarkable men, there are going to be times where you simply don't understand how this could have happened. Yes, you have been tested. You have been tried. You have gone through fire. But you must also know that you're not alone in this. You are and always will be a part of our family, you are our nakamas, nobody should be left suffering alone. Most of us here, we know each other, so for you, there's no such thing as a stranger. When someone is in need, you reach out to them and you support them, and you do what it takes to help them carry on, no matter who they are, where they're from. Our bonds, shall never be broken, and that is why we know the Whitebeard Pirates will get through this."


End file.
